Looking for the best parkour videos? Well we’ve got the best parkour videos. In fact, we’ve gathered together a list of some of the best parkour videos the world has ever seen – from the viral and acclaimed to the influential, important and most progressive parkour videos on the internet.
Parkour videos seem to pop up every other day now. Over the past few decades, as people began to ask exactly ‘what is parkour?’, the practise became somewhat of a modern mainstream sensation. Society’s sense of curiosity and wonder tingled as they watched practitioners leap across stunning urban environments, and parkour as a practise has leapt into the public eye as a consequence.
Basic parkour techniques turned into worldwide trends and parkour classes began to pop up around the UK, with people asking about parkour gear and parkour shoes.
Parkour fails became a source of constant cringing and comedy for the legions on YouTube, and in amongst it all, some absolute moments of genius were captured on camera from some truly inspirational athletes…
1) Various Athletes, Yamakasi, 2001
In the 1980s, a French friendship group with Yann Hnautra and David Belle at their core would form the ‘Yamakasi’, the first real parkour crew. They would grow the discipline first by themselves, and then take it to the world in an eponymous film directed by Luc Besson. Above is one of the most famous clips from that feature.
Parkour Generations, the largest professional parkour organisation in the world, describe the 2001 film as “a famous reference point” for parkour, but note that not all interest was positive after the film, with “two deaths attributed to copycat behaviour”.